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I would love to get my hands on some antique beekeeping equipment. Not the big stuff, but the little things that are reasonable to collect. I wouldn’t like the idea of storing and toting around a big antique honey extractor that I couldn’t even use. They always have a cool story to them and serve as great collectables. Fortunately, I have some of our families old beekeeping equipment under my possession. We even have a 4 lb bottle of sealed honey from 1964.
Until I get my hands on some some cool antique beekeeping pictures and materials, I can settle for the easier things. The low hanging fruit are the digital versions of old beekeeping books. It is really surprising how many beekeeping books have been digitized. Hundreds are available from all over the world. You can’t exactly cozy up to them and flip through them in bed, but they are worth looking at.
Apparently the way to remove swarms is to cut the branch off when the swarm is directly above your head according to this book. People were tougher back then.
WISDOM FROM THE PAST
These books have a lot of really great information from a time when beekeeping was common practice. Pictures from these books show hundreds of hives, scattered across the country side. This is far from how the majority of bees are kept today. It is too much information to read through. I have to say that the yellowed pages of these scanned pages and the beautifully drawn images make me want to get my hands on a real copy. A 143 year old book is cool on its own, but the fact that its an encyclopedia of information on beekeeping as well, makes it awesome.
OTHER SOURCES OF BEEKEEPING INFORMATION
Even if you aren’t able to find some antique beekeeping equipment or books, you can always lean on the beekeeping practices of the “old days”. One with the greatest historical tradition is Bee-Lining or Honey Hunting. This used to be the main way to find bees before you could buy packages. This is the preeminent book on how to find wild bees.
Currently as I write this, there is an 1895 printing of The ABC of Bee Culture for $389.00 on Ebay. I’m still gonna holding out for that estate sale gold mine I think about.
To get your “hands” on your own free downloadable copies, check out these websites (in order of favorites):
You can download these onto a e-reader as well as your computer.
Happy Beekeeping.
